The Hard Way to Get Home

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 2

Earlier in the day:

Gerald Newman waited patiently as the guard walked past his cell door. He knew they wouldn't be back for another forty-five minutes. He had timed them repeatedly for the previous three days and he was ready. Moving quickly, he removed the sheets from the bed and tore them into strips. He tied the strips together to make two ropes, one long, one shorter. He carried them to the window and tied one end of the long one to the bars on the window. The noose he had formed on the other end went around his neck. The shorter one fit around his chest and under his arms. He hid the harness under his shirt and attached it to the other rope. Bending his knees, he adjusted the length of the ropes until the noose tightened around his neck as he stood on the cot. He checked the length of the shorter harness to make sure it would support his weight. He felt the harness tighten and take his weight before his air supply was cut off. Satisfied that the harness would keep him from choking, he untied the rope from the bars and sat down to wait.

He heard the guard enter the hallway and begin his slow walk down the length of the cellblock. Gerald stood on his cot and retied the rope around the bars. When the guard was closer, he pushed the cot away from the wall and let himself dangle from the harness hidden around his chest. Now that his full weight was on the harness, he felt the knots slip. His body was supported more by the noose than he had planned. His air supply was being cut off and for just a moment he thought he may have miscalculated. His measurements were off and he may have acted too soon. His hands clawed at the noose around his neck of their own violation as his vision dimmed.

Then he felt hands lifting him, loosening the strips around his neck. He kept his eyes closed and his body limp as the guard struggled to save his life. Finally, the strips of cloth gave way as the guard sawed at them with a knife. Blessed air rushed into his lungs, renewing his strength and determination. As the guard bent over him to lower his body to the floor, Gerald took action.

His fist came up and punched the guard in the side of his head. As the guard staggered back, Gerald launched a kick to his groin. The guard tried to deflect the kick with only partial success. Gerald followed the kick with a blow to the throat. The guard fell back, gagging and struggling to breathe. A kick to the head put him down for the count. Smiling triumphantly, Gerald made his way out of the stockade.

The alarm sounded before he had gone very far. Gerald ducked into an alley and watched as MP after MP rushed toward the stockade. Realizing that he had to get off the base, Gerald ran for the motor pool.

There were two jeeps parked off to one side, away from the other vehicles. They weren't parked in, and that appealed to Gerald. He started toward them, eager to make his escape. Voices from the motor pool drew him to the building used by the mechanics. An MP was talking to two mechanics. The MP's presence spooked Gerald and frantic, he looked around for a weapon. What he found was a long, hollow, metal pipe. He picked it up and tested its weight. It felt good in his hands, solid and deadly. Ready, he moved in behind the unsuspecting MP.

One of the mechanics spotted Gerald and yelled an alarm. The Mp turned to face the threat, his hand going to his weapon. Gerald swung the bar. The crack of the bar hitting the MP's helmet was loud in the enclosed space. The only thing that saved the MP was the fact that he was already moving when the bar connected with his helmet. The MP was thrown against the side of a truck being repaired. His rifle clattered against the side of the vehicle as he fell. The sound caught Gerald's attention. The guard was forgotten as Gerald bent down and picked up the rifle. He dropped the bar and cradled his newfound weapon with a huge smile on his face. He even ignored the mechanics still standing in front of him.

As he started to turn away with his new toy, new voices drew his attention. They were coming from outside where the jeeps were located. Gerald forgot about the mechanics and headed for the jeeps.

Tully and Hitch walked toward the jeeps; their arms loaded with supplies to replace the ones they had used. Hitch was in the lead, several steps in front of Tully.

"Maybe we should have made two trips with these supplies," Hitch said over his shoulder. "This pile is so high I can't see over it. It's wonder I didn't drop half of it before we got this far."

"You said you wanted to get done before Sarge and Doc got done with their briefing," Tully answered. "If we made two trips it would have taken longer."

"I know," Hitch answered. "But we're still going to be a while getting all of these supplies packed away where they belong."

"Not that long," Tully replied. "We know where everything goes and we know it all fits."

Gerald watched as the two privates walked over the to the jeep, he had decided he wanted. The first private walked around the closest jeep and dumped the supplies on the seat. The second soldier walked up to the jeep Gerald already considered his.

"It's a good thing we didn't have to carry them any further," Hitch remarked.

Tully laughed at Hitch's comment and turned to drop his supplies in his jeep. A shot rang out and he spun at the sound. The supplies fell to the ground at his feet as he spotted Hitch lying next to his jeep.

"Don't move!"

Tully froze and looked for the speaker. A soldier he didn't recognize stepped out of the motor pool with a rifle pointed at him. "What do you want?"

"That jeep," the soldier pointed at Tully's jeep.

"You could have just taken it," Tully answered. "You didn't have to shoot him. Why did you do that?" Tully took a step toward Hitch.

"Stay put!" Gerald snapped.

"Why did you shoot him?" Tully repeated.

Gerald shrugged and his mouth twisted crookedly. "I didn't need him." He started for the jeep. He waved the rifle at Tully and nodded toward the jeep. "Get in the jeep. You drive."

Tully looked down at Hitch and hesitated.

"Now!" Gerald yelled.

Knowing that the sooner he got the soldier away from the motor pool, the sooner Hitch would get help, Tully slid into his jeep. The soldier with the rifle climbed into the passenger seat without a backward glance at Hitch. Tully took a closer look at his passenger and was sure he had never seen him before. "What's this all about?"

"Drive!" Gerald ordered. "Just get me off of this base."

"We don't have a pass to get through the gate," Tully objected.

"Just bust through," Gerald ordered. "We need to get out of here before they come for me."

With one last look at Hitch, Tully started the jeep. He'd seen Hitch stirring and he didn't want his passenger to notice. He put the vehicle in gear and hit the gas. "Who is coming for you?"

"Them! You know, them!"

Tully shook his head. "I don't know."

"You're not fooling me," Gerald shouted. "You're helping them. You're trying to stall so they can get me." Gerald waved the rifle around, clearly not satisfied with the progress of the jeep. "Drive!" he ordered again.

"Where do you want me to go?" Tully asked. He kept his hands on the wheel so that his passenger wouldn't get even more upset.

"The back gate," Gerald ordered. "Break through. I'll give you more directions once we're off the base."

Tully eased up on the gas as the jeep neared the back gate. He knew they would be challenged and he had to find a way to get through without getting himself shot. There was also the possibility that Gerald would shoot the guards, and Tully couldn't allow that. Tully made a choice and turned the next corner.

Gerald poked him in the ribs with the rifle. "Where are you going? The gate is straight ahead."

"If we drive straight up to the gate, they are going to shoot us," Tully answered as calmly as he could manage. The longer he was with Gerald the angrier he became. He had immediately noticed the other man's wild eyes that viewed everything with suspicion. And the talk of them coming after him had convinced Tully that he wasn't playing with a full deck. Tully carefully worded his explanation of his escape plan. "If you don't want them to catch you, we will have to be careful. We'll take this alley and come out just before the gate. We'll rush the gate before they have a chance to react to seeing us. No shooting, it will only draw others, maybe even them." The mention of the mysterious them was enough to keep Gerald from arguing.

"You'd better not be trying to trick me," Gerald growled. He twisted in his seat to keep his rifle pointed directly at Tully.

"You'd better duck," Tully warned. "Here we go." Tully didn't look over to see if Gerald heeded his advice. The minute the gate came into view Tully hit the gas. The jeep barreled toward the gate and the guards who had no idea what was about to happen.

The guards heard the jeep approaching and walked out to check their papers. They had barely stepped out of the gate shack when the jeep rushed past and crashed through the wooden barrier. They both fired at the rapidly escaping vehicle with no results. One of them ran for the guard shack to report the breach.

"Take me to the nearest airfield," Gerald ordered. "I have a plane waiting for me. Once I'm on that plane they won't be able to catch me."

"The nearest airfield is at Odah Salamdi," Tully answered.

"Then that's where we'll go," Gerald answered. "How far is it?"

"You've never been there?" Tully looked over at his passenger as he asked the question.

"No, I don't think so," Gerald answered. "How far is it?"

"It should take us about two days to get there," Tully answered. "A jeep is faster than a truck."

"Aren't there any airfields any closer?"

"Sure," Tully answered, "but it's German."

Gerald jerked as Tully's response registered. "How close are we to the Germans?"

Tully shrugged. "Not far. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we run into a patrol or two before we reach the airfield."

Gerald twisted in his seat to look around. The wild look in his eyes intensified and Tully briefly regretted mentioning the Germans.

"We'd better not run into any Germans," Gerald growled. "I know who you are. You know how to avoid German patrols. You'd better make sure we don't run into any of them." Gerald glared at Tully in a threatening manner.

"We may have to take a roundabout route if you want to avoid all of them." Tully answered. He shifted his matchstick to the other side of his mouth. "We could work our way through the hills to avoid being spotted."

Gerald appeared to be considering it. "All right," he finally nodded, "we can do that."

Tully nodded, and without a word, turned the jeep toward the surrounding hills.